AITA for giving my stepmom an embarrassing birthday gift which somehow made my half sister cry?

YTA because your half sister being upset does have some validity to it. The joke is that this kids parent will divorce and it will be a messy divorce. Some kids might be neutral about the idea of their parents divorce, some might have a sense of humor about it, but there is also some who would be upset by it. It might not feel great to have family members laughting about your family breaking up. Even if the joke isn’t aimed at you, that might not feel great.

You also meantion that your stepmum is a narcissist and your dad a lazy parent. Do you think this could have caused issues for your stepsister to have such parents? Your joke was centered around both of them being terrible people. Is it possible that for your sister it was upsetting to have someone acknowledge that her parents are aweful but only to laught about it?

Also, it’s seems relevant that your stepsister didn’t say that you alone were terrible, but ”how terrible the family is”. It does seem like your stepsister are having issues with her family. Your joke is making light of how messed up her family is, the very issue she’s having. Her reaction was pretty mild even, bringing up the attitude of the whole family. Your reaction however was pretty aggressive. Is it possible that your aggressive response is a common attitude in your family and a part of why your stepsister disapproves of your family.

The scissors was a good inside joke with your stepmum, since she obviously enjoyed it. But when you do a risky joke in front of others you need to considered their potential reactions to. Especially if the joke touches on their situations. Your joke made fun of her family, so her having a reaction is understanderble. It’s fine if you have this type of humor, but you need to be aware that not everyone does and moderate your humor infront of those that do not share it.

/r/AmItheAsshole Thread